How much is a human life worth? About £860,000, according to the Department of Transport. That is the rough figure used when Ministers make decisions about investing in road safety. If the 'cost per life saved' is estimated to be more than £860,000, the project is likely to be rejected and alternatives sought.

LIKE ghosts we walked alongside two-year-old James Bulger and two older boys. We watched, horrified, as they led him on a terrifying two-and-a-half-mile journey from the Strand shopping centre in Bootle to the railway line at Walton Lane, Liverpool.